Use a screen reader to add a signature in Outlook

This article is for people with visual impairments who use a screen reader program with the Office products and is part of the Office Accessibility content set. For more general help, see Office Support home.

Use Outlook with your keyboard and a screen reader to add a signature. The signature appears automatically at the bottom of new emails, including your replies and emails you forward. We have tested it with Narrator, but it might work with other screen readers as long as they follow common accessibility standards and techniques.

Notes:

New Office 365 features are released gradually to Office 365 subscribers, so your app might not have these features yet. To learn how you can get new features faster, join the Office Insider program.

In this topic

Create a new signature

You can have several signatures and use a different signature for each type of email. For example, a business signature might include your name, job title, and contact information, while your home signature might have just a nickname and an image.

In Outlook, press Alt+F, T, M. The Outlook Options window opens with the focus on the Mail category.

Press Alt+N, and then Enter. The Signatures and Stationery dialog opens.

To create a new signature, press Alt+N, and then Enter. The New Signature dialog opens.

Type a name for the signature. Once you're done, press Enter.

Tip: Give signatures descriptive names, such as "business closing." A good name can help you find the signature that you want in the future.

The focus returns to the Signatures and Stationery dialog.

To add your signature text, press Alt+T and then press the Tab key until you hear: "Edit signature." Type the signature text.

Tip: You can also add a picture to your signature. Press Shift+Tab until you hear "Pictures button," and then press Enter. The Insert Picture dialog opens. Browse to the image you want, and then press Enter.

Once you're done, press the Tab key until you hear "OK button", and then press Enter. The focus returns to the Outlook Options window.

To close the Outlook Options window and return to your Inbox, press the Tab key until you hear "OK button," and then press Enter.

Edit a signature

In your Inbox, press Alt+F, T, M. The Outlook Options window opens with the focus on the Mail category.

Press Alt+N, and then Enter. The Signatures and Stationery dialog opens.

Press Alt+C. You hear: "Select signature to edit."

Press the Down arrow key until you hear the signature you want, and then press Alt+T. You hear the currently selected font.

Once you're done, press the Tab key until you hear "OK button," and then press Enter. The focus returns to the Outlook Options window.

To close the Outlook Options window and return to your Inbox, press the Tab key until you hear "OK button," and then press Enter.

Keyboard shortcuts for formatting signatures

Use the below shortcuts to format your email signature:

To do this

Press

Apply bold formatting

Ctrl+B

Apply underline formatting

Ctrl+U

Remove text formatting

Ctrl+Spacebar

Change font

Alt+T

Align left

Ctrl+L

Center text

Ctrl+C

Align right

Ctrl+R

Insert your signature

If you've created a signature, but don't want to automatically add it to all your outgoing messages, you can manually add it to specific messages.

While composing your message in Outlook, press Alt+N, A, S.

The list of available signatures opens. If there's only one signature available and you'd like to add that one, press Enter. If you have more signatures, press the Down arrow key until you hear the one you want to use, and press Enter.

The signature is added to your message, and the focus returns to the message.

Set a default signature

You can set signatures to be added automatically to your outgoing messages. You can separately select a signature for new messages, and for replies and forwarded emails.

In Outlook, press Alt+F, T, M. The Outlook Options window opens with the focus on the Mail category.

Press Alt+N, and then Enter. The Signatures and Stationery dialog opens.

To select the email account for which you want to set default signatures, press Alt+A. You hear the name of the currently selected account. Press the Up or Down arrow key until you hear the account you want, and then press Enter.

To add a default signature automatically to all new messages that you compose using the selected account, press Alt+M. The New Messages menu opens. Use the Up or Down arrow key to move to the signature you want, and press Enter.

To add a default signature automatically to messages that you reply to or forward, press Alt+F. The Replies/Forwards menu opens. Use the Up or Down arrow key to move to the signature you want, and press Enter.

To save and apply your changes, press the Tab key until you hear "OK button," and press Enter. The Signatures and Stationery dialog closes and you return to the Outlook Options window. To close the window and return to your inbox, press the Tab key until you hear "OK button," and then press Enter.

Remove a default signature

In the Signatures and Stationery dialog, press Alt+A.

In the list of email accounts, press the Up or Down arrow key until you hear the account whose signature you want remove, and press Enter.

Do one of the following:

To remove the signature for new messages, press Alt+M.

To remove the signature for replies and forwarded messages, press Alt+F.

Press the Up arrow key until you hear "None," and then press Enter.

Press the Tab key until you hear "OK button," and then press Enter.

Note: You can also delete a signature completely, In the Signatures and Stationery dialog, press Alt+C. Press the Up or Down arrow key until you hear the signature you want, and then press Alt+D. A confirmation window opens. You hear: "Yes button." To delete the signature, press Enter.

In Outlook for Mac, you can add a signature using a keyboard and VoiceOver, the built-in macOS screen reader. You can set the signature to appear automatically at the bottom of new email messages, replies, and emails you forward.

Notes:

New Office 365 features are released gradually to Office 365 subscribers, so your app might not have these features yet. To learn how you can get new features faster, join the Office Insider program.

This topic assumes that you are using the built-in Mac OS screen reader, VoiceOver. To learn more about using VoiceOver, go to VoiceOver Getting Started Guide.

In this topic

Create a new signature

You don't have to use the same signature for everything. You can use a different signature for each type of email. For example, a business signature might include your name, job title, and contact information, while your home signature might have just a nickname and an image.

In Outlook, press Control+Option+M to go to the menu bar.

Press the Right arrow key once. You hear: "Outlook." Press Control+Option+Spacebar to open the menu.

Press the Down arrow key until you hear "Preferences, ellipsis." Press Control+Option+Spacebar to select.

The focus moves to the Signature field, and you can type the signature text.

Tip: Besides text, you can also add a picture in the Signature field, such as a logo, or an image of your handwritten signature. To add a picture, copy it from a folder or Desktop, and place it where you want to appear in the signature field.

To give a descriptive name for the signature, press Shift+Tab repeatedly until you hear: "Untitled, contents selected, edit text." You're in the Signature name field, where you can type the new name.

If you use Outlook for multiple email accounts, choose the account that should default to this signature. To open the list of accounts, press Control+Option+Spacebar. Use the Up or Down arrow keys to move through the list until you hear the account you want, and press Control+Option+Spacebar to select.

To automatically include this signature to all new messages that you compose and send from this email account, press the Tab key once. The focus is on the New messages list. By default, the option None is selected. VoiceOver announces: "None, pop up button."

To open the list of options, press Control+Option+Spacebar. Press the Down arrow key to move to the signature. When you hear the signature, press Control+Option+Spacebar to select.

If you want to automatically include the signature to all the messages you reply to and forward, press the Tab key once. The focus is on the Replies/forwards list. By default, the option None is selected. VoiceOver announces: "None, pop up button."

Press Control+Option+Spacebar to open the list. Press the Down arrow key to move to the signature. When you hear the signature, press Control+Option+Spacebar to select.

Press Command+W to close the Signatures dialog and return to where you started.

If you have several email accounts in Outlook, choose the account that will use this signature. To open the list of accounts, press Control+Option+Spacebar. Use the Up or Down arrow keys to move through the list until you hear the account you want, and press Control+Option+Spacebar to select.

To add a default signature to new messages that you compose using this account, press the Tab key once to go to the New messages list. You hear the current selection. To open the list of options, press Control+Option+Spacebar. Use the Up or Down arrow keys to move to the signature you want, and press Control+Option+Spacebar to select.

To add a default signature to messages that you reply to or forward, press the Tab key once to go to the Replies/forwards list. You hear the current selection. To open the list of options, press Control+Option+Spacebar. Use the Up or Down arrow keys to move to the signature you want, and press Control+Option+Spacebar to select.

Press Command+W to save your changes and close the Signatures dialog.

Remove a default signature

To go to the Signature name list, press the Tab key or Shift+Tab until you hear "Select signature name table," followed by the name of the currently selected signature.

To select a signature, use the Up or Down arrow keys until you hear the signature you want.

To delete a signature, press the Tab key until you hear "Delete selected signatures button," and then press Control+Option+Spacebar. A notification window opens.

In Outlook for iOS, you can add a signature using VoiceOver, the built-in iOS screen reader. You can set the signature to appear automatically at the bottom of new email messages, replies, and emails you forward.

Notes:

New Office 365 features are released gradually to Office 365 subscribers, so your app might not have these features yet. To learn how you can get new features faster, join the Office Insider program.

This topic assumes that you are using the built-in iOS screen reader, VoiceOver. To learn more about using VoiceOver, visit Apple accessibility.

Add a signature

By default, the "Get Outlook for iOS" message appears at the end of your emails as your signature. Instead of having the default message, you can create a personalized signature for all your messages.

From your Inbox, to go to the Settings menu, swipe left until you hear "Show navigation pane, button," double-tap the screen, swipe right until you hear "Settings, button," and then double-tap the screen.

In the Settings menu, swipe right until you hear "Signature <current signature>, button," and then double-tap the screen. The Signature menu opens.

To create a signature, swipe right until you hear "<current signature>, text field," double-tap the screen, and edit the current signature using the on-screen keyboard.

Note: To go to the keyboard, swipe right until you hear a keyboard element.

Tip: You can also find the keyboard by exploring the items on the screen. To explore, place a finger on the screen and drag it around. VoiceOver announces the items as you land on them. To select an item, lift your finger and double-tap the screen.

After creating the new signature, to close the Signature menu, swipe left until you hear "Settings, back button," and then double-tap the screen.

Note: If you don't want to have any signature at the end of your email messages, simply delete the signature text in the Signature menu.

In Outlook for Android, you can add a signature using TalkBack, the built-in Android screen reader. You can set the signature to appear automatically at the bottom of new email messages, replies, and emails you forward.

Notes:

New Office 365 features are released gradually to Office 365 subscribers, so your app might not have these features yet. To learn how you can get new features faster, join the Office Insider program.

This topic assumes that you are using the built-in Android screen reader, TalkBack. To learn more about using TalkBack, go to Android accessibility.

Add a signature

By default, the "Get Outlook for Android" message appears at the end of your emails as your signature. Instead of having the default message, you can create a personalized signature for all your messages.

From your Inbox, to go to the Settings menu, swipe left until you "Open navigation drawer, button," double-tap the screen, swipe right until you hear "Settings," and then double-tap the screen.

In the Settings menu, swipe right until you hear "Change your default signature, your default signature is <current signature>," and then double-tap the screen. The Signature menu opens and the focus moves to the signature text field.

Edit the current signature using the on-screen keyboard.

Tip: You can find the keyboard by exploring the items on the screen. To explore, place a finger on the screen and drag it around. TalkBack announces the items as you land on them. To select an item, when on the item, lift your finger. Depending on your device settings, you may need to double-tap the screen to insert the character.

After typing the new signature, swipe left until you hear "Save," and then double-tap the screen. The Signature menu closes and the focus moves to Settings.

Note: If you don't want to have any signature at the end of your email messages, simply delete the signature text in the Signature menu.

Use Outlook Web App with you keyboard and a screen reader. You can set the signature to appear automatically at the bottom of new email messages, replies, and emails you forward in Mail. We have tested it with Narrator, but it might work with other screen readers as long as they follow common accessibility standards and techniques.

Notes:

New Office 365 features are released gradually to Office 365 subscribers, so your app might not have these features yet. To learn how you can get new features faster, join the Office Insider program.

When you use Outlook Web App, we recommend that you use Microsoft Edge as your web browser. Because Outlook Web App runs in your web browser, the keyboard shortcuts are different from those in the desktop program. For example, you’ll use Ctrl+F6 instead of F6 for jumping in and out of the commands. Also, common shortcuts like F1 (Help) and Ctrl+O (Open) apply to the web browser – not Outlook Web App.

We're currently updating Outlook.office.com (Outlook on the Web). Some people are already using the new Outlook, and for others the classic version will be the default experience until we complete the update. For more information, go to Get help with the new Outlook on the web. Since the instructions in this topic apply to the new experience, we recommend that you switch from the classic experience to the new Outlook. To switch to the new Outlook, press Ctrl+F6 until you hear "Command, Try the new Outlook," and then press Enter. If you hear "Command toolbar" instead of "Command, Try the new Outlook," you're already using the new Outlook.

In this topic

Create a new signature

In Mail, press the Tab key until you hear "Settings button," and then press Enter. The Settings pane opens.

Press the Tab key until you hear "View all Outlook settings," and press Enter. The Settings window opens.

Press the Tab key until you hear "Layout, tab item," then press the Down arrow key until you hear "Compose and reply, tab item," and press Enter.

Press the Tab key until you hear "Signature, editing." Type the signature you want to use.

Do one of the following:

If you want your signature to automatically display at the bottom of all new messages, press the Tab key or Shift+Tab until you hear "Unchecked, Automatically include my signature on messages I compose, checkbox," and then press Enter.

If you want your signature to automatically display at the bottom of all replies and forwards, press the Tab key or Shift+Tab until you hear "Unchecked, Automatically include my signature on messages I forward or reply to, checkbox," and then press Enter.

Tip: If you don’t select any of those options, you can also manually add your signature to any new message you want. To learn more, refer to Insert your signature.

When done, press Shift+Tab until you hear "Save," and then press Enter.

To close the Options menu and go back to Mail, press the Tab key until you hear "Back," and then press Enter.

Insert your signature

If you've created a signature, but didn't choose to automatically add it to outgoing messages, you can manually add it to specific messages.

While composing a message in Outlook, place the cursor where you want to insert your signature.

Press the Tab key until you hear: "More compose actions, button collapsed." Then press Spacebar to open the context menu.

To insert the signature, press the Down arrow key until you hear "Menu item, insert signature," and press Enter.

Your signature is added to the message, and the focus moves to the email message body.

Technical support for customers with disabilities

Microsoft wants to provide the best possible experience for all our customers. If you have a disability or questions related to accessibility, please contact the Microsoft Disability Answer Desk for technical assistance. The Disability Answer Desk support team is trained in using many popular assistive technologies and can offer assistance in English, Spanish, French, and American Sign Language. Please go to the Microsoft Disability Answer Desk site to find out the contact details for your region.